The concise version is a very good read if you are traveling on a flight or a train/ bus. The 48 laws of power is very helpful to understand various scenarios in which one can become comfortable with Power. Specifically the Judgement, Image and Authority mentioned in each chapter is very accurate.

This is a very practical guide for those who want to make a career in sales. To me, it was very helpful because even in the IT industry I have to perform some pre-sales activity and then eventually some sales activity as well. Zig Ziglar’s book provides lot of valuable information on how to master the art of selling in the fast paced selling world.

I didn’t knew that the real power of Google is not just its search engine but it is the power of sophisticated computers and patented custom designed programs that run on thousands of machines inside the Googleplex, the company’s space-age Silicon Valley Campus. This is one story that everyone needs to know. Highly recommended.

I always run short of adjectives when it comes to praising this book. This is mother of all books on communication and interpersonal skills. With over 32 million copies sold worldwide, the clear and concise actionable advice provided in this book is definitely worth millions of dollars.

If you have children in school then this is what you need to read. It provides practical advice on how to approach learning, how to deal with exams and how to get good marks. It is a very fast read too.

My personal favorite from the 13 Steps series by Ashwin Sanghi. For those who believe in making their own luck, this book provides step by step guidance on how to create favorable circumstances and how to attract and catch more opportunities.

Authoring a book on speaking is not easy. This books explains in detail about how and what a speaker should do to improve in public speaking. The language of this book is not that simple and you may find it tough if you are a beginner in English language or reading books in English. Note, the advice given in this book is useful only if you are ready to implement in real life, just reading it without any action will not be helpful at all.

Highly recommended for those who want to improve their behavior continuously. Practical examples of how certain habits stop us from getting better; what we can do to identify those habits and how to implement improvements in our day to day routine.

Different people have different opinions on this book. I personally found the message very clear and very effective. To me it occurred that the structure of the book could have been better, it somehow didn’t quite end up being a seamless reading experience. Nonetheless, the law of attraction is something which has stayed in my mind ever since, of course I am of the opinion that a thought without action is not going to give any results.

Honestly I haven’t finished reading it completely yet because it is very thorough and detailed. It has over 600 pages. Also one needs to have basic understanding of financial concepts before one starts to read this book. I searched for some videos on YouTube to understand the summary of this book which made my reading easier. It is said that Warren Buffet followed the advice given by Benjamin Graham in this book. Warren considers Benjamin Graham as his mentor. So yes, this is the definitive book on value investing.

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Satya Narayan Nadella was named CEO of Microsoft in 2014. In a letter to all Microsoft employees, he said, 'Many who know me say that I am deifned by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things.'This is how successful people make their luck. This is the fundamental attitude of lucky people. Their focus to learn new things increases the number of opportunities that come in their journey of life.

Taking inspiration from the above, I am sharing some of the things that I tried in last few years. These are examples of small things where I have tried to develop the attitude to 'do more'.

1. I had a good job, but still few years ago I asked myself what more can I do? Looked at the options and started with trainings. Within few years I got good hold over Oracle trainings and earned a good name as a corporate trainer within the company.

2. After few years, I asked myself the same question, what more can I do? Looked at the options and started my own blog The Tomorrow Beckons, published one article after another and today I have 148 article published on my blog with over 275982 pageviews. My movie review blog YourWeekendMovie also got a comment from the Kahaani 2 director Sujoy Ghosh.

3. The clock ticked, I moved on and yes in few years I asked the same question again, what more can I do? This time the opportunity came in the form of Toastmasters Club. I joined the club as a member and within a year got elected as President of the club.

4. While all of this was happening I started to contribure on Quora and till date I have some 808 Answers, 38 questions, 29 questions resulting in…

Now, I know that by no stretch of imagination these things can be considered on a yardstick for success but the point I am trying to make is how the attitude to do more has taken me into territories I never imagined I could venture into. I strongly believe if you think you are successful and have achieved a lot and that you don’t want to do anything more then it may just be the beginning of your downfall.

Lot of talented people don’t succeed either because they are laid back or because they are a victim of self doubt and fear. Developing an attitude to do more or newer things may help you achieve a lot more than you could have ever imagined.